10 Facts about Business Texting That You Should Know

Texting—it’s ubiquitous. 22 million texts are sent every day and the overwhelming majority are opened within three minutes of being received. It’s changed the way we communicate with each other, the way we build relationships, the way we schedule our lives. Phone calls have become a thing of the past—reserved for only the most important conversations. In fact, millennials, the most prominent generation represented in the workforce (at over 50%) are especially averse to phone calls, viewing them as an interruption to a person’s day in a way that text messages are not.

As text messaging becomes more and more common in the workplace, here are ten facts that you should know about texting:

97% of Americans use text at least once a week.

Perhaps not surprising, a 2015 study found that almost all Americans text at least once a week – and that was back in 2015. This speaks to how widespread the behavior has become and how reliant people are on it. It’s no surprise that it has proliferated into the workforce.

2. Text Messaging has a 98% open rate.

For comparison, email only has a 22% open rate. How many times do you send emails in the office that you have to wait several days for a response – or actually never received a response at all? With text messaging walloping email in its open rate, it makes sense that people in the workforce have become more reliant on text messaging than email—as attested to by the next fact.

3. 80% of people are using texting for business.

Text is no longer just about personal conversations. More and more people are using text messaging in the workplace for sharing knowledge, collaboration and making rapid decisions. It’s convenient, efficient and (quite literally) at their fingertips.

4. 35% of business professionals can’t go more than 10 minutes with responding to a text.

If you had any doubt about the efficiency of text messaging, you can put those to rest. More than a third of business professionals report that they respond to text messages almost immediately. The majority (88 percent) said that they cannot go longer than a day without responding.

5. Text is used for both conversations and quick responses.

Text messaging is not just efficient and convenient, it’s versatile. A third of respondents in one survey said they use it for conversation and collaboration while two-thirds said they use it for quick responses. Text can be used in a variety of circumstances—whether you want to simply acknowledge a message or pursue further conversation.

6. Texting is happening from multiple devices.

Almost a third of people report texting from devices other than their mobile phones. Texting is spreading from just being a mobile phone feature to being used via tablets and laptops— and even wearables – whatever device is readily accessible to the person to collaborate and communicate in real-time to get business done.

7. Business professionals are feeling communication overload.

42% of respondents said they felt communication overload from too many apps to check for messages on a daily basis. More than half of the respondents said they use two to three apps for messaging. Limiting business messages to a single application that is secure and meets compliance requirements could help with employees fatigue and corporate concerns over security and data leaks.

8. The majority of companies believe customers want texting support.

Companies are interested in building relationships with their customers—something they can do over text. Close to 80% of companies think that their customers want texting support. Text messaging is a convenient way for customers to communicate with companies—without having to take too much time out of their lives.

9. More than half of consumers polled would prefer to text for customer support.

And they would be correct. Customers have also indicated that they would like to be able to communicate with companies via text messaging. 64% of customers polled stated that they would rather use text as a customer service channel over voice. Companies have the opportunity to increase customer satisfaction through texting.

10. More than 50% of financial companies use mobile messaging to differentiate.

Adding to multichannel capabilities, financial intuitions have embraced mobile messaging to ensure business continuity and provide competitive services demanded by consumers. These intuitions use text to attract and retain new customers, mitigate risk and improve security. Over 30% use secure messaging to gain deeper customer insights and meet compliance requirements.

Bonus:70% of people are using emojis and images for business texts.As the mediums through which people communicate change, so does the way we express ourselves. Emojis and images—perhaps once reserved for personal conversations—are now making their way into business texts. While it may seem silly, emojis, acronyms such as LOL and images play an important role—making sure the tone of the conversation is not lost. This is extremely important when you consider the impacts on governance programs and eDiscovery.

It’s pretty clear that texting has become a key tool, not only for consumers but in the workforce to conduct business. Businesses must be prepared to address concerns about security, confidentiality and compliance in the workforce for BYOD use. Businesses should review their regulatory and compliance requirements and consider investing in secure, compliant messaging solutions that enable texting efficiencies to be leveraged without exposing the organization to security and compliance risks – solutions like Vaporstream.To find out more about secure messaging and the Vaporstream platform, contact us or see Vaporstream in action and request a demo today.